Sore Hands

     Fear not, I did not die. At least not yet. I missed my post last Thursday because it was such a busy day. I had an early class, the first for that entire week. Then I was supposed to meet with my professor to prepare for a seminar the next day, but he never showed up. Then more class, studying, and a final for my education class. It was very easy but by the time I was finally back in my room with nothing left to do, it was past midnight. Suffice to say, I had no heart to write.

     And since then I have been up to so many things. Friday I did another open mic night, and read a poem I had written for the occasion. Easier than the first time, but still frightening. I hope to continue going out and participating in them so that one day I can read something and not have my voice shake so much. Also it is good practice for teaching. 

     Saturday was the Secret Santa exchange in my house and also winter formal. I received a book, Jodi Picoult's Lone Wolf. It looks promising, so I am going to enjoy that over winter break. Formal was really fun. It was a fancy dinner and then an all ages night at the Outpost, which is the campus pub. My house got all dressed up and went to dinner, where we learned that we won House of the Month for the second month in a row. It was amazing. I live in a quiet residence and they have the stereotype of having nerds who never go out and do events. So winning it for the second time is really good for us. The theme was Fairy Tales, and we were seated at the Aristocats table. All of the tables were themed from Disney movies. It looked really nice. I stole a pink bow from the table and wore it around my neck. Then, when a couple of the girls and myself went out to the Outpost to dance I wore it along with my "bow ties are cool" shirt.

     Today I wrote my first university exam, and I must say it was fairly easy. It was for my literature before 1750 course, and was comprised of five short answer questions and an essay. I ended up writing a nine page essay, and then using another nine pages for the questions. By the time I left my hand was so cramped up and sore. It wasn't as stressing or intimidating as I think it's supposed to be. We write them in the gymnasium just like I did in high school, just with a lot more people. I only have two exams for this term (the perks of being an English major) and my second one isn't until Tuesday, so I've got a lot of downtime. Then I get to go home.

     Congratulations Campion on being finished with high school! Let me tell you that you will not miss it. University and college are better in so many ways, the first being that there are a lot fewer stupid people. Since you have to pay to be there, most people are pretty serious about it. Another perk is that you can create your own schedule, to some degree. So, if you want to sleep in you just have to schedule it like that. Good luck on your job hunt!

     Kate, I would really like to know how you can balance school and NaNoWriMo, let alone finish it. I really wanted to do it this year, but it turned out that November was my busiest month, with a lot of assignments, tests, and presentations. I do want to write more often, and am thinking of setting aside a certain time during next semester to do it. Also, try not to hate English so much. It's not as bad as you think. 

     Try not to get too bogged down with work and studying, and take breaks to have some fun. Good luck to all with whatever end of the year things you are facing. Next time I post I will be home sweet home. Have a good weekend, don't forget to be awesome!
-Deidra

Too Tired To Party

     I was all set to write a nice, lengthy post this afternoon. I figured I'd get it done early so I wouldn't forget or be rushed about it in the evening. But then I turned on Supernatural, started a painting, and here we are. I'm super exhausted because I was up late last night and up early this morning, and I think I may have been getting a bit too much sun lately.


     Anyway, was up late last night because Kayla slept over. Our final sleepover as high school students. We made chocolate chip cookies, ate lots of chocolate, watched Project X (insane movie), and then went out into my backyard to set off sparklers and play with glow sticks. It was extremely fun.


     I was early this morning because I had to go in to write my final exam at 9 o'clock. It is the ILC one that I have been waiting ages for and complaining endlessly about. That was really easy, an hour and a half and about 6 or 7 pages of writing. Although, I wrote what is probably my best test/exam essay ever.


     Katie, I am so jealous that you get to go to comic-con. Not really an area of expertise of mine, but the event sounds really fun. Hopefully you dress up, cause that would be cool. Take awesome nerdy pictures for us!
     Congrats on your driving test, Kate. I have another lesson tomorrow that I am just dreading. I hate driving, it is way more responsibility than I ever want to have, but of course my parents don't care. And I guess it will be useful in the future when I have to be an adult or something.
     Kira, the only thing I can say to you is NEVER EVER BURN BOOKS. I don't care how annoying they are, or how messed up studying them has made you. That is like, sacrilegious.


     I am extremely tired, so going to leave it here. I have to get up super early again tomorrow to go into the city to take my lesson. Then I get two days of relaxation and then we drive down to Niagara so I can meet Hunter. I am so so excited. Anywho, happy 1 year of awesome. It's been super sweet blogging with you guys, and here's to another year!
-Deidra

The Dots, Oh God They're Everywhere

Ah, man I am so worn out right now. Exam time is always so exhausting. On the bright side I only have one more to do on Monday and I'm done with high school for reals. And I already know I got an 88 in Calculus, which is nice. Not sure what I got for Chemistry, but I'm not too worried. I went in with like a 96 or something. Now I just have to deal with Data management which isn't usually all that hard. 

I didn't have an exam today so technically I could have stayed home, except I couldn't because today was the due date for my Art ISU and I had to rush to finish everything up. I stupidly decided to do pointillism for my final project and honestly if I never see another polka dot in my life I would be fine with that. It was ridiculous to paint all those dots, but whatever I got it done.

My dad's retirement party was yesterday. I was originally planning on going, but it was mostly a bunch of older teachers and people that I didn't know there so my dad said I could stay home. He seemed like he had some fun there with my mom though, remembering the good old days and whatnot. My dad has been teaching for some 30 years though, that's pretty insane. I'm glad he's retiring though, teaching can get really stressful sometimes. 

Katie, I tend to get a lot of random songs on my iTunes. Like, I'll just buy one from an artist and nothing else ever again because I only like that one song by them and not their other music. That being said, once I find a musician or band I really really like I'll buy whole albums from them to listen to. Some examples being Green Day, White Lies, and Regina Spektor (been a bit obsessed with her recently, you should check her out). I like albums and don't think they're dead. Musicians can tell whole stories with albums when single songs can only give you a glimpse.

Kira, I'm going to be traveling a bunch between home and Ottawa this summer as I move down there to get settled in. Other than that I don't really have any official plans, but there's a ton of stuff I want to do like catch up on reading, watch more Supernatural and Merlin, maybe learn the basics of another language, etc. I should really make a list so that I don't forget anything. Hope you have fun in Venice and Rome! Take lots of pictures!

Campion, I really like Pokemon too, although to be honest I'm more of a casual fan. I played yellow and silver a lot when I was a kid, but I never bothered getting any of the other games until Soul Silver and Black came out so I don't really know any Gen 3 or 4 Pokemon. And I haven't really kept up with the TV show or movies at all. But that game that you're working on seems like it would be really fun!

Deidra, let me just say this. DEAN HAS FEELINGS TOO!!11!!!1 He's not just macho tough guy, just look at that brotherly love, and when he beats himself up about their dad, etc, etc. *sobs and runs away* lol, but hey I don't mind you liking Sam, just means more Dean for me. (And no, sorry to inform you, but Dean is cuter.)

DFTBA

Kayla

Stressful Times

     It's that time of year again: exams. The only consolation is that these are my last highschool exams ever! And then, you know, I'll have university exams, but I am riding this happy ship until it hits the ground! I wrote my chemistry one today, and it was kind of bad. Like, I left first out of everyone, I was barely in the examination room for two hours. I don't have a good feeling about it, but thankfully my entrance marks are good enough that I will pass regardless. 


     I write my philosophy exam tomorrow, which is going to suck. It was an online type course, so all the studying is done by reading the content pages online. On the bright side, it's like 60% multiple choice. Other than that, I have my literature exam to do Monday (hopefully) and then I WILL BE FREE! 


     No more talk of exams now. I think my favourite animated movie is a tie between Monster's Inc., Finding Nemo, and Wall-E. I love Pixar. And I am most excited for Brave, it looks so amazing. Also, there is apparently a prequel to Monster's Inc. so I am super excited for that. 


     Sam is way better than Dean. Just saying. Sorry Kayla. Dean is too macho, tough-guy, hard-up for me. Also too much of a player. I prefer Sam. He's quiet, seems to think, and has a soft spot for every body. I kind of like that. Also, he's way cuter. *smile*


     Thank you for sharing that video, Katie. I laughed a whole bunch. Also, it had some great advice. I wish we had a piñata at our graduation. You are so lucky that you get to see a real live performance of a Shakespeare play. I love Shakespeare, I would love to see one of his plays like that. As for the album, I wholeheartedly believe in them. I think that they are a good way to showcase hard work and dedication. I mean, anyone can write and produce a song, but it takes a lot to make an entire album. I also agree with the others, releasing singles is just trying to make them popular. I really don't like that Alex has decided to do that. Especially since he talks about trying to stray away from the mainstream music industry so much. It kind of defeats the purpose of all his talk.


     Kira, I love that book! I read it a year or two ago. I agree, the characters weren't really relate-able, but I think that pushes the point of the book. Being a wallflower means you are on the outside of everything, misunderstood and alone. By writing characters that can't be related to, you show that everyone is different and that people can and are misunderstood. I don't know, that's my take on it anyway. Also, I can't wait for the movie to come out, it looks like it's going to be really really good. As for summer plans, I am taking a trip down to Niagara Falls at the beginning of July to meet my Nerdfighterlike boyfriend and his parents (don't worry, my parents are coming along too). Then I have to come back home, finish my driving lessons, and prepare for the wonderful world of university. *non-excited woo*


     Campion, never feel bad about liking Pokemon. Never. Ever. Ever. I have been a Pokemon freak since I was a little kid. I am mostly into the first two to three generations, as I stopped watching the shows and movies after a while, and I don't have many of the games. However, about a year ago I went back and replayed through the Yellow version. I completed the Pokedex for the first time ever. It was pretty fun. This game also sounds interesting. I've never played D&D, but a Pokemon version sounds like something I'd be interested in learning more about.


     Okay, I really have to go and study now. Not that I really want to, but I have to. I hope you all have good weekends. Don't forget to be awesome!
-Deidra

I don't care what anyone says, Dean is my new baby.

Almost forgot to post today even though I had the whole day off school. Or maybe that's the reason why... either way, my week has been so-so. Exams are coming up soon and I have two ISUs due as well. to top it all off I have been sick the last couple of days. But I think I'm over it now. I feel a lot better.

I enjoyed my day off today and my half day yesterday. I watched a bunch of movies, read some manga, suntanned a bit and even baked some cookies. Mostly I just slept lots to try and recover though.

Kate, comparing Hawking and Einstein is really hard. I'm not really sure who would be the better scientist, but I think I like Einstein better just because of reasons.

Kira, I've never actually played paintball before. It seems fun, but also something that I would be really bad at. I hope to try it at some time though.

Glad to hear from you again Campion. Good luck with your filming, I hope it goes well. I don't think our school has any rumours about it at all, it's pretty boring really. Sadly, I did not follow the advice you gave us a while ago and I watched Mega Shark Vs Giant Octopus. You were right it was terrible. But I had to watch it, just to see for myself.

Deidra, the animated movie I'm most looking forward to is probably Brave, it seems like it'll be a really good one. As for my favourite animated movie god that's a hard question, I like so many... well I do like Fantastic Mr Fox (stop motion animation) but I also like Howl's Moving Castle. Or WALL-E. Or Nightmare Before Christmas. Or a million others.

Oh yeah, I started watching Supernatural. I'm only on season two so far, about half way through. I used to watch episodes sporadically on TV so I kind of know some things that will happen, but I'm finally going to watch everything now. Sam used to be my favourite character, but now I'm leaning way more towards Dean.

I'm kind of randomly in the mood to write a letter to someone, but I wouldn't know who I should write to or even what I would write about really. I just feel like I haven't written a letter to anyone in a really really long time.

DFTBA

Kayla

I Have Strange Feels for my Internet Friends

     This is more than likely going to be a short post (or at least shorter than my usual super long posts). It feels like a Friday, since we don't have school tomorrow, and today was a really relaxing day. So yeah, my mind is set to Friday mode in which I don't do anything.


     My graduation was last Friday. It was okay. Not really that exciting. Like Kayla said, very hot in the gowns. It was also long, or at least it felt long. And the worst part is that we still have school after the ceremony. Like, we have a week and a half, plus time for exams. It's not the greatest system. 


     So yeah, exams start next week. I've got three to write this semester. Three exams and I am done with high school. I seriously can not wait. I just want to write them now and get it all over with. There is no way I can fail, so I'm feeling pretty relaxed about them. Bring it on.


     I have no opinion on the Einstein/Hawking debate. Really, I don't know that much about either of them. I don't think you can even properly debate the issue. I mean, Einstein worked the past, with much less technical equipment and knowledge than Hawking has. Give Einstein the tools that Hawking has, and I'm sure he would outshine. 


     Welcome back, Campion. I've sure missed you. Glad you got to post this week. To be honest, whenever someone misses a post, I get this weird anxiety that something bad has happened to them, and we won't ever  know. I'm strange, just ignore me. As for rumours about my school, I don't believe we have any. At least, nothing cool like that. Our's is about 75 years old, and it's severely breaking down. Despite the renovations that were done in the last year, it's still really terrible. We get cold air blowing in the winter, and the heaters run off and on during the spring/summer. I'm just glad I don't ever have to go back.


     And that's about it. My brain is just shutting down. I want to curl up in bed and maybe watch some Supernatural (if my computer will let me). Have a good weekend, and don't forget to be awesome!
-Deidra
P.S- I feel like I should ask a question, since I didn't have anything interesting to write about. So, what is your favourite animated movie, and what animated movie are you most looking forward to?

"I'm not a psychopath, I'm a high-functioning sociopath."

FREEDOM!!!! Lol, only technically for like 3 days for me so it really isn't super fantastic, but I take what I can get. I got like 14 hours of sleep yesterday/last night. I didn't realize exams took so much out of me, but I was super exhausted. I didn't really do much today either. Just lazed around the house and watched some tv shows. I started watching Switched at Birth and Sherlock. Both are pretty good so far (especially Sherlock) so I definitely recommend checking them out.

I got some really good news yesterday though. So about a month or two ago my pokemon silver game stopped being able to save. I figured that was it for the game (which sucked because that was the game I had cuurrently been working on building an all poison type party and it got lost). But then I found out that you can fix it by replacing the battery in it, so that's pretty cool. I just need to buy a replacement and I should be able to fix my game.

Katie, I'm allergic to cat dander which means I'm also allergic to bunnies and horses for some reason. I also get allergic reactions to most caterpillers randomly. I'm pretty sure that's because I really liked caterpillars when I was little and let them crawl on my hands, so yeah. Smart litttle me was smart. Also I'm exactly the same in terms of social life, I don't really do anything outside of school. Mostly because there's not really much to actually do in my town. I'd probably go out more if we had like a bowling ally or a movie theatre or something. And yeah, coffee crisps are just coffee waffer chocolate bars, not really anything super amazing, but I really like them.

Campion, also wondering what a haka is. And that film looks pretty awesome, makes me want to check it out some time.

Deidra, finally I can say screw physics. *floats off the surface of the earth* Haha, I wish. But at least I dont have to worry about that for the rest of the year, just calculus and data management. And yes we need to
watch The Lord of the Rings. We should have started today, but whatever there's still time.

DFTBA
Kayla

Sleep Zombie

     Exams are officially over!! Well, they were over for me on Tuesday, after I wrote the Killer English Exam of Grade 12. Since then I have been extreme relaxing and sleeping and catching up on all of the awesome things that I haven't gotten to do since returning after break. I have slept somewhere around 20 hours since I came home from that exam. That has been nice. I've also read an entire book that has nothing to with English or school or boring stuff like that.

     Kayla, you are now allowed to stab physics. (this pertains to a conversation about how much she hated physics). Relax and become sleep zombie and maybe we can get together to watch Lord of the Rings before the new semester so that you can stop pestering me about not having seen it.
     Katie, I am thankfully not allergic to animals or anything lifey like that. The only thing I am allergic to is a weird medication thing, so it isn't something that really affects me. Also, don't feel bad about your lack of a social life. I am just like you. Except for Kayla, I really have no one else that I ever hang out with outside of school. And since she lives in the next town, we don't get to hang out much. Which is why the Internet is wonderful!
     Adam, I am super jealous of all the awesome things you get to do. I can't wait to be done with high school and out of this town so that I can do something besides sitting in front of my computer, laughing at Tumblr.
     Floccinaucinihilipilification. Really Kira. I had to go and search that to see if it was a real word, then do more searching to find what it means and how the heck to pronounce it. (which I still can't do, by the way).
     Campion, I don't know how you can stand uniforms. The entire idea of a school uniform annoys me. I mean, they take away so much individuality. Also, they tend to always have skirts and weird girly shirts for girls, both of which I really hate. Though I think I could live with a tie. Also, what is a haka? As for the movie, it looks to be very interesting. Especially since the tag lines are cyborgs can fight, but can they love and hate? and why can't a cyborg question his creator like men question god? You will have to review it and let me know.

     Tonight I am going to watch the movie In Time. I wanted to see it the first time I heard about it, but like all movies I forgot about it until I saw the trailer again for the DVD release. It kind of plays into the mortal/immortal thing I've been thinking about lately, so hopefully it will be good for that. Don't forget to be awesome!
-Deidra

P.S - three out of seven left-handers. I like these odds. =P
    

I like to pretend I can actually cook

Well exams have started so I was off school today and by my next post I'll be officially over with semester one. Yay! Though, second semester seems as if it will be fairly difficult. The only course I'm really looking forward to is art.

We got so much snow on Sunday and Monday, like at least a foot or two I'd say. The snow hills everywhere pretty much doubled in size compared to how they were before. The only good thing about getting so much snow was that it meant warmer weather for a bit and it got us half a day off of school on Monday.

Deidra was over at my house all day today so we decided to take a break from studying to bake and cook. We ended up making these awesome chocolate cupcakes with Rolos inside. It was a really simple way to improve our usual box mix cupcakes. After that we made beef stroganoff, which was surprisingly easy. And then for desert we made baked apples with cinnamon and brown sugar inside. It was pretty awesome if I do say so myself.

Congrats on your marks Adam. Katie I love Coffee Crisps, the fact that some of you guys don't have them makes me want to go buy a bunch and mail them to you, haha. Kate, I can relate, I am definitely not a morning person. Kira, what's a 3.925 GPA in percentage? Because we don't use that at our school, but honestly 3.925 seems like a pretty good GPA to me. Campion hope you're enjoying your last days of freedom.

DFTBA
Kayla

Running out of Time

Well, studying has been a fail this week so I guess I just have to make sure I study lots this coming week. I just can't wait for this semester to finally be over so I can start my next classes.

I'm helping out at the vet again tomorrow though, so that'll be a nice break from my usual routine. I plan on really watching the surgeries closely this time around so I can get as much from the experience as possible. Hopefully I won't get grossed out by it or anything.

Adam, I'm glad you had a good time in Germany and didn't get lost.

Deidra, if you asked me face to face I would probably just say I want to be immortal right off the bat. However, it would also depend on the situation because maybe there are restrictions or downsides to being immortal (for example: vampire = drinking blood, Captain Jack = continued aging). Then I also wonder what sorts of things I would do if I was immortal because I would have like all the time in the world and I'm a horrible procrastinator. So if I didn't have a restricted time to live I might just end up wasting a bunch of time doing pointless things, whereas I could have been doing more if I had been mortal. Also a lot of things sound better in theory than in practice, so there would really be no way to tell if I'd really like to be immortal since all I've ever been is mortal.

Anyway I got some stuff to take care of so this'll be all for now.
DFTBA
Kayla

Choose Wisely

     It seems as though the closer I get to exams the slower times seems to move. I seriously just want to get them over with already. It's not funny anymore. I want the 'new semester excitement' to happen, where I promise myself that I will keep up with everything and not procrastinate. Where my notes are legible and I don't just want to sleep in class.

     Adam, your new semester schedule sounds dreadful. At least there is only one day of extreme torture. It could always be worse. Glad to hear that your trip went well and that you had lots of fun. The pictures are beautiful.

     I had The Fault in our Stars read to me via Skype by a Nerdfighter friend, and I have to say it was amazing. I cried so much, I couldn't believe it. I think like you, Kate, I made it worse when I started to connect it to my own life. I don't know how I would ever be able to handle anything like that. Also, Hazel is a very lucky girl.

     Kira, I always find it strange to hear that certain places don't have things like specific chocolates. Especially ones that are so yummy. But then again, the US also doesn't have Kinder Surprises, so hearing that Michigan doesn't have Coffee Crisps isn't all that shocking.

    Have you guys ever thought of immortality? The idea of living forever doesn't really appeal to me, and if given the choice I don't think I would choose it. I tend to say that I'm in love with my mortality. I like knowing that at some point my life will cease to exist, that my time will run out. I think my hesitance towards immortality comes from my fear of our world's future. Sure, I would like to know what we come up with in 100, 500, 1000 years. I'd like to know if we cure cancer or find a way to truly be 'green' with the planet. But I know that things like hate, violence, and war will never end. I don't want to be stuck in a world that cannot solve its problems. Also, I just don't think I could stand the monotony of day-to-day living over and over and over again. I think I need that danger of dying, inevitability of the end feeling to really keep me going. What about you guys? Would you choose immortality over mortality?

     Anywho, that's all from me. Hope your weeks are great and your weekends are greater. Don't forget to be awesome!

On Exams and Same-Sex Marriage

Hey peeps, how's everyone's week going? Mine was pretty good considering it was the first week back after Christmas break. The work load isn't that heavy thanks to exams coming up soon, though exams aren't really something to be looked forward to. I have a feeling this is going to be a tough one so that's why I'm planning on actually studying for two weeks ahead of time instead of the day before as I have done previously. I am least looking forward to my English exam though because if the format our teacher has chosen gets approved then there's going to be seven essays on our three hour exam. I don't know how your exams are usually like, so this could just be me, but I've never done seven essays on one exam. It's going to be a struggle to get it done in time.

There's some turmoil going on right now with the Canadian government that has to do with same-sex marriages. Canada has had legalized same-sex marriages for a while now, and we've also allowed same-sex couples from other countries to get married here. But just recently it has been brought up that apparently if the people came from somewhere that didn't allow same-sex marriage then the marriage may have never been valid. You can read about it here or by googling around about it. (I encourage doing so in case I haven't explained things well.) It doesn't make much sense in my mind, I could understand it a bit more if the place they were from maybe didn't recognize the marriage, but at the very least Canada should recognize it since they were the ones that allowed it. Either way our government is going to have to explain things before it gets too out of hand, in most of the comments I've read the people were upset and a little confused about the whole situation. Any thoughts?

Katie, I really enjoyed the twitter that you linked, gave me quite a laugh reading through it. About the contacts with internet, though it could be very very usefull I could see that going very wrong in terms of mass enslavement of the people. I mean it probably couldn't be that hard for some computer hacker to do, don't you think? Brains are controlled by electrical impulses after all. But that's just me thinking on the negative. And I don't really have anything to add in terms of time travel.

Kira, robotics sound really interesting, especially because we dont have anything like that around where I live. Is it very difficult to do? Is it fun? Also for your question, like Deidra I have one that I made in grade 10, but a lot of the stuff on it has probably changed because I wasn't really thinking all that deeply about it when I first made it. And I haven't really looked at it for a while so it probably needs some editing.

Congratulations to everyone on all your good marks. And I hope your trip is going well Adam.

DFTBA
Kayla